Remote Sensing and Global Climate Change

496 Pages·1994·17.097 MB·English

by  Arthur P Cracknell (auth.), Robin A. Vaughan, Arthur P. Cracknell (eds.)

Remote Sensing
and Global Climate Change
NATO ASI Series
Advanced Science Institutes Series
A series presenting the results of activities sponsored by the NA TO Science
Committee, which aims at the dissemination of advanced scientific and
technological knowledge, with a view to strengthening links between
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Physical Sciences Dordrecht, Boston and London
o
Behavioural and
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E Applied Sciences
F Computer and Springer-Verlag
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G Ecological Sciences London Paris Tokyo Hong Kong
H Cell Biology Barcelona Budapest
I Global Environmental
Change
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Series I: Global Environmental Change, Vol. 24
Remote Sensing
and Global Climate Change
Edited by
Robin A. Vaughan
Arthur P. Cracknell
Department of Applied Physics and
Electronic & Mechanical Engineering
University of Dundee
Dundee DD1 4HN
Scotland, UK
Springer-Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg New York London Paris Tokyo
Hong Kong Barcelona Budapest
Published in cooperation with NATO Scientific Affairs Division
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Remote Sensing and
Global Climate Change, held at Dundee, Scotland, July 19 -August 8, 1992
Additional material to this bood can be downloaded from
http://extra.springer.com.
ISBN-13:978-3-642-79289-2 e-ISBN-13:978-3-642-79287-8
001: 10.1007/978-3-642-79287-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. Arthur P. Cracknell. p. cm. -(NATO ASI series.
Series I, Global environmental change; v. 24) "Published in cooperation with NATO Scientific Affairs
Division. Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Remote Sensing and Global Climate
Change, held at Dundee, Scotland, July 19-August 8,1992" - T. p. verso. Includes bibliographical
references and index.lSBN-13:978-3-642-79289-21.Climatic changes-Remote sensing-Congresses.2.
Climatology-Technique-Congresses.1. Vaughan, R. A. (Robin Antony) II. Cracknell, Arthur P. III. North
American Treaty Association. Scientific Affairs Division. IV .. NATO Advanced Study Institute on Re
mote Sensing and Global Climate Change (1992: Dundee, Scotland) V. Series.
QC981.8.C5R44 1994 551.6-dc20 94-36780
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© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1994
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Directors' Preface
Throughout the history of the world, the atmosphere, the oceans and the land have
interacted to produce global environmental change to which life has contributed and
adapted. Legitimate concern is now felt about the possible impact that mankind may
be having on the environment and the consequences of human activities on out changing
climate. The enhanced greenhouse effect, and global warming, which may affect local
temperatures, sea level, and ecological infrastructures, and the reduction of atmospheric
ozone, with the consequent danger to life, have concentrated the minds of people and
politicians alike. Global environmental monitoring and climate change studies are now
considered legitimate areas of research and are receiving financial and moral support
from many quarters. Huge international programmes have been established involving
the collaboration of scientists from many disciplines and many countries. Climate is
a global phenomenon, and changes in climate affect everyone in the world. Remote
sensing, with its synoptic, continuous and versatile monitoring capability, is an obvious
source of data for the environmental scientist, but an appreciation of its limitations and
inaccuracies, and the problems involved in extracting geophysical parameters from the
data and correlating them with other data sets, is essential if meaningful predictions
are to be made. Management systems will need to be devised to handle types of data
which differ not only in format but in accuracy, subjectivity, resolution, classification
and stratification. Differences in culture, political regimes, language, population and
development will affect the uniformity of data from different parts of the world and
provide logistic problems in assimilation into a global data base or global model.
Remote sensing is providing, and will continue to provide, valuable ammunition to
the world's scientists in their massive task of understanding our climate and the factors
which affect it. The potential of Earth observation is now recognised by politicians
from most countries to the extent that they are now willing to invest in very expensive
and extensive programmes. The breaking down of political barriers in Europe can only
hasten the collaboration which is essential if this exercise is to succeed.
It was against this background that the present Summer School was devised. The
Dundee Summer Schools in Remote Sensing, of which this is the seventh, have attracted
support and interest from most parts of the world.
This was no exception. Nearly 80 participants and about 15 lecturers from 28
countries gathered in Dundee in Scotland (a country well known for its own particular
climate!). Their scientific backgrounds were as diverse as their nationalities, but they
were all united by the desire to learn about remote sensing and how it might help them
to understand climate change.
Lectures covered the principles of remote sensing, the management of data, data
requirements in climatology, the principles of modelling, the input of data into models,
and the applications of remote sensing to the atmosphere, ice and snow, seas and land.
VI
Seminars were given on a number of case studies and on the use of CD ROM for storing
environmental data. A visit was made to the AVHHR data receiving station for which
Dundee University is well known, and a lively discussion on Politics and Global Climate
Change also took place.
A particular feature was not only the presence of participants from distant countries
such as China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, etc. but the num
ber from geographically close, but previously almost inaccessible, countries in Central
and Eastern Europe. One Committee member, who also gave a seminar, and one lec
turer both came from St Petersburg. Participants came from Russia, Estonia, Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary. The opportunity to discuss at first hand their
different problems and ideas, many of which were only vaguely known in the West until
recently, was a memorable experience for most participants.
As with several of our previous summer schools, this one was supported as an Ad
vanced Study Institute by the Scientific Affairs Division of NATO for whose support the
Directors are particularly grateful. Other support, however, came from the European
Commission, the British Council in a number of countries, and the European Space
Agency. This additional source of funding enabled us to increase the international par
ticipation and to provide a wider lecture programme. We are also grateful to those
agencies and institutions which provided support to individuals which enabled them to
make the often long journey to Scotland, including the US National Science Foundation
and the UK Natural Environmental Research Council.
At a very late stage in the preparation of the material for this volume, a very
interesting book was published which must be mentioned. This is "Atlas of satellite
observations related to global change" edited by R J Gurney, J L Foster and C L
Parkinson (Cambridge: University Press) 1993. It is a very informative and beautifully
produced volume and would provide valuable reading material that is complementary
to these Summer School Proceedings.
Readers, reviewers and librarians may be concerned that this volume is being pub
lished rather a long time after the Summer School itself was held.· This is through
no fault of the Publishers, who have, in fact, acted very speedily once they received
the material from us. The main reason for the delay is that a substantial amount of
updating and editorial work has been carried out on several chapters by both authors
and editors. The material is therefore more up to date than might appear at first sight.
Moreover, while new results from particular climate models or satellite systems contin
ually become available, the underlying principles of the use of remote sensing in climate
studies, the substance of this volume, is less ephemeral.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to those colleagues who gave of their
valuable time to come to Dundee to teach, and for their cooperation in providing the
material which makes up this book, to the participants who attended, as without them
the exercise would have been pointless, to our colleagues on the organising committee
for helping to make the experience an enjoyable one, to the technical and secretarial
staff for making things work and in particular to Pat Cunningham for shouldering most
of the administrative burden. The success of such a meeting is a team effort - and we
have a superb team.
VII
Lastly the editors would like to thank Xiuhong Sun and his wife Xiaoping Shi for the
many hours they have devoted to converting the material for this book, which arrived
in a variety of digital formats, to U.TEX. Anyone who has undertaken such a task will
appreciate that this is not trivial! We hope the reader will find the contents interesting
and useful.
RA Vaughan
A P Cracknell
Dundee.

1. S V Victorov 2S. P Singhasaneh 55. H Sui
2. K R Varatsos 29. F Colao 56. S Zientek
3. P Cunningham 30. I Csiszar 57. M Bizanzadez
4. R A Vaughan 31. S K Soo 5S. P Fernandez
5. A P Cracknell 32. M I H Mohamed 59. I Ivanova
6. K McGuffie 33. K Furmahczyk 60. N Chisholm
7. K Y Kondratyev 34. M V Weele 61. L Schuller
S. L V de San tis 35. K Milner 62. N Chisholm
9. M Kampel 36. M Saraber 63. T de Jong
10. Deshpande V.R. 37. U Lourens 64. I Woodhouse
11. R Engelen 3S. S Beaven 65. B Shammery
12. M A Haque 39. D Low 66. R Benz
13. Kumaran T.V. 40. B Lapete 67. J A P Almeida
14. A Grossinho 41. J P Marrero 6S. K Abdulnasser
15. A A Samah 42. P Hampl 69. J M F Morais
16. P Ashcroft 43. H Erdun 70. P Post
17. J R De A Franca 44. C G Selles 71. M 0 Domingue
IS. G B Franca 45. J Wang 72. R Biagio
19. B Lesht 46. J C Fortea 73. D M Casey
20. R Fraile 47. A Plidini 74. D Gray
21. J Merayo 4S. T Palmer 75. G A Serritella
22. A N Fox 49. V Kostopoulos 76. F Caiffa
23. A Van Lammeren 50. M Varinou 77. T Heinemann
24. A Yurtaikin 51. K Tsolakidis 7S. A Khiuddin
25. T Mcnally 52. J Bauman 79. D Dong
26. E Benson 53. S Mansor SO. B P Jallow
27. T Davis 54. W Jinghua S1. A Van Riet
Organisation
Organising Committee
Dr. R A Vaughan (Dundee), Director
Professor A P Cracknell (Dundee), Co-Director
Professor C Varotsos (Athens)
Dr. C 0 Justice (NASA, USA)
Professor A Henderson-Sellers (Macqarie, Australia)
Dr. J T Houghton (Meteological Office, Bracknell)
Dr. I Gardiner (Dundee), Social Programme
Mr G R Whyte (Dundee), Technical Arrangements
Technical Assistance
Mrs P Cunningham
Mr I Durajczyk
Miss A Paladini
Editorial Assistance
Mrs Xiaoping Shi